The word “Entrepreneur” is a loanword.  This, as you know, means that it has been borrowed from another language.  French, to be precise.

Perhaps, in its own way, Tenner is a loan project.  Inspired by a vicar, borrowed by some, enhanced by many.  At its core, about lending, borrowing, doing something big with something small.

When I put it to Tom Savage, Scott Cain and the team at Enterprise UK that I thought that the idea “had legs”, I could not have imagined how far it might run.  Nor that the world’s best-known entrepreneur, Sir Richard Branson would, five years later, be encouraging young people to take part.

Today Tenner has been adopted by the excellent charity Young Enterprise, which operates across thousands of schools.  Success, they say, has many parents.  As someone with a smudged and sometimes illegible signature on the birth certificate, it is inspiring and reassuring to see Tenner in the hands of an organisation which, I know, will provide a safe and loving home.

I know that you will join me in wishing Tenner well.  Bon Voyage, as our French cousins might say.

But this is not adieu.  Nor is it even au revoir.  Because I’m looking forward to helping the team at Young Enterprise in the months and years to come, in any way I can.

My hope for Tenner is that it helps people to see that there are many paths to success. That they do not have to conform to someone else’s view of how things ‘should’ be done.  That they can express themselves, have huge amounts of fun, experience the thrill of things ‘going wrong’ and then ‘going right’. All within a relatively ‘safe’ environment, in a short space of time, at a young age.  It’s about the rush of starting something, making something, proving someone right, proving someone wrong.  Discovering something about yourself which makes you feel massively more alive.  And then, when the month is done, following those clues, to do whatever you want to do.

How far does a tenner go these days?  We shall see.

 

“There are many Indias.”

This is the number one piece of advice offered to us by a brilliant host, recently stepped down from a well-known multinational.

To be fair, there are many Indians.   Over 1.2 billion, representing 17.5% of the world’s population, it is predicted to be the world’s most populous country by 2025.

So, many Indias, and to begin to get your head around them is going to take some time.  Longer than a week.  Which is how long I have just spent in Bangalore and Delhi.

75% of the population here are mobile subscribers (919.2m people) and there will be 300-400 million new web users within the next 3-5 years.  Perhaps unsurprisingly then, entrepreneurs are interested to know how they can design products and services which connect with these millions.

According to the Boston Consulting Group, India had 4 billionaires in 2001.  Today it has 55.

54 million Indians will become college graduates over the next ten years.  Over that time, the US will see thirty million.  So to see the Indian opportunity as simply a chance to design low-cost things for millions, is  limiting.  Similarly, with this many consumers, to see the country as little more than a source of low-cost labour lacks imagination.

Paying the bill in a Delhi tea-room, a colleague catches sight of an upright piano.  “Do you play?”, he asks the waiter.  “Yes sir”, comes the reply.  “Do you really?” asks the guest.  “No sir”, admits the host.  What is going on here?  To my mind, it is a small and interesting clue which supports the theory that the Indians I meet during  the week want to please, to connect, to be of service.  Time and again, they go out of their way to be helpful and considerate.  To quote a family member’s motto, “The answer is yes. Now what’s the question?”.

My surface scratching, brain-boggling exercise is part of a trade mission – Web Mission to be precise, with fifteen of the UK’s most innovative web companies.  Supported by the Technology Strategy Board and UKTI, it is the eighth mission I’ve helped to organise, and the first to outside of the United States. From Buffalo Grid (bringing power to hundreds of millions of mobile users) to uMotif (helping people remember to take their medicine, using text messages and smart phone apps), a terrific range of founders, from their thirties to sixties.

From swanky hotels lobbies to a charity which serves 1.2 million school meals each day, it is a week of contrasts.  You can see a short film from each day here.

Amidst the tuk-tuk rides, networking events and limited sleep, I begin to conclude…

Laughter is the best medicine, and although the statistics and briefings may lead you to dwell upon the differences between people and cultures, every single conversation I have during the week seems to hint at something more powerful.  That we are more similar than different.

People are not the same as companies.  Yes, I am travelling “with fifteen companies”.  In fact, I am with fifteen individuals.  Similarly, they may have just met with a multi-million dollar company with 150,000 employees.  In fact, the magic of the meeting came from a connection with an individual. Someone who saw their potential and wanted to build a relationship.  This distinction is worth remembering.

Four curries a day can be good for you.  Good for the soul, at least.  Eye opening, yes. Eye-watering, often. A wonderful way to trigger new conversations.

And finally.  I must return to India.  One week is no time at all. 

It is always flattering when someone presents an opportunity to work together.  Likewise, it’s a big deal to suggest to someone that you would be keen to join forces on a project.

Over the years, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to work alongside some brilliant people.

Recently, I posed the following question to my Facebook friends;

What qualities do you look  for (above all others) in people you work with (or are considering working with)?

Over the next couple of hours, the answers rolled in from some of my favourite people.

I wanted to share some of them here.

Of course, this is not a scientific survey.

I hope that it might be food for thought.  For me, the qualities below are certainly ones to aspire to – and I may have a long way to go!

Reading them was inspiring and reassuring, and only strengthened my desire to work more closely with some of my favourite people, in 2013 and beyond.

Here are some of the replies, including thoughts from entrepreneurs, writers, executives, civil servants and former Army officers;

What qualities do you look  for (above all others) in people you work with (or are considering working with)?

“I value intangibles quite a bit – courage and tenacity would be my two”

“Honesty. Thoughtfulness. Integrity”

“Humour, honesty, drive, entrepreneurial spirit, niceness”

“Resilience. Experimentation. Humility.”

“If I wouldn’t want to go out to dinner with them, I wouldn’t want to work them on a project. If I wouldn’t invite them into my home for the weekend, I wouldn’t want to go into business with them. Keep it simple.”

“Passion, determination and loyalty. I’d take passion over everything else since the other two tend to be part of the passion package anyway.”

“Kindness. Intelligence. Capacity to deal with stress. Hungry to learn. Coachable. Articulate their weaknesses and areas for development and open to input. Produces results. Thinks for themselves. Has good time management. Can write well. Able to deal with multiple demands. Loyalty. Open. Authentic. Bold and courageous.”

“Open, honest, passionate, positive”

“Tenacity, principles, curiosity and responsiveness (ability to learn, adapt and react).”

“Anyone who’s keen, loyal and smart gets the job for me.”

“Humility, determination, generosity and accountability. Oh, and I quite like them to be clever too.”

“Authenticity, connectivity, capability. In order.”

“Is the right answer: really bad puns, someone’s Uncle’s taste in music and an amazing ability to connect people?”

“Grammatical supremacy.”

“Ability to integrate information and articulate clearly opportunities and risks. Creativity, empathy and determination.”

“Attention to detail is the key to success… Been my phrase forever! That and calm in the midst of stress”

“Drive, initiative, ability to create their own work without being micromanaged and a sense of humour.”

“Someone who is interested in using their talent in service of something bigger than themselves, in a way that benefits others and the generations to come.”

“Integrity, someone who is a do-er and gets stuck in too, and someone I can learn from.”

Which of these would you especially agree with?

Which qualities are missing?

I am grateful to friends and colleagues for sharing their thoughts and wish them, and you, well throughout 2013 and beyond.

 May every collaboration you have in mind turn into a success.

photo by Joe Dsilva 

“It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read a book of quotations.” Winston Churchill

As my long-suffering Facebook friends and Twitter followers know only too well, I love to share quotations.  They can capture a mood, sum up a project or, let’s be honest, frame something far better than I ever could.

Most of all, I enjoy seeing who ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ great quotations.  Somehow, it can send a signal that we are on the same wavelength. A mutual appreciation of a feeling, in the middle of a busy day.

Here are the words I have shared throughout this year.  Yes, there are some regulars, including Winston Churchill and Mark Twain.  Also, some recurring themes – for someone who spends so little time on the water, sailing and ships seem to be one.  I make no apologies for many of them being pretty upbeat.

Friends, if they are not sick of them already may chuckle.  Close friends will know that these quotations are a helpful way of making my way through a series of adventures this year.

I’d love to know if particular lines are your favourites, or stand out.

Here then, are the quotations I’ve shared in 2012.  Rereading them at the end of the year, I’ve gone over some of my absolute favourites in bold type;

“Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity” Albert Einstein

“Luck affects everything. Let your hook always be cast; in the stream where you least expect it there will be a fish.” Ovid

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” Mark Twain

“He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things.” Marcus Tullius Cicero

“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” Robert Heinlein

“Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.” Samuel Johnson

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade”. Charles Dickens

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” St. Augustine

“When a finger points to the moon, the imbecile looks at the finger” Chinese proverb.

“Sometimes I think we’re alone. Sometimes I think we’re not. In either case, the thought is staggering” Buckminster Fuller

“What we once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose, for all that we love deeply becomes a part of us” Helen Keller

“The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Never be afraid to laugh at yourself, after all, you could be missing out on the joke of the century”. Dame Edna Everage

“My position on cake is pro-having it, and pro-eating it” Boris Johnson

“All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant’s revolving door.” Albert Camus

“These then are my last words to you. Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.” William James

“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.” Robert Frost

“There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few will catch your heart… pursue those.” Michael Nolan

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive” Harold Whitman

“To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.” Leonard Bernstein

“The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along” Rumi.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” Steve Jobs

“New opinions often appear first as jokes and fancies, then as blasphemies and treason, then as questions open to discussion, and finally as established truths.” George Bernard Shaw

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.” Albert Einstein

“When I’m working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.” Richard Buckminster Fuller

“I have come to believe that remembering someone is not the highest compliment – it is missing them”. Vincent Price.

“I have found that if you love life, life will love you back” Arthur Rubinstein

“If the wind will not serve, take to the oars.” Latin Proverb

“You cannot love a thing without wanting to fight for it.” GK Chesterton

“I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the ordeal of meeting me is another matter.” Winston Churchill

“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.” Flora Whittemore

“We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star but we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special” Stephen Hawking

“All that is gold does not glitter; not all those that wander are lost.” J.R.R. Tolkien

“We do not remember days, we remember moments. The richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten.” Cesare Pavese

“Life is always walking up to us and saying, ‘Come on in, the living’s fine,’ and what do we do? Back off and take its picture.” Russell Baker

“Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably will themselves not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will not die.” Daniel H. Burnham

“They sicken of the calm, who know the storm” Dorothy Parker

“I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity. I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity” Oliver Wendell Homes Jr

“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.” G. K. Chesterton

“Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none.” William Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well.

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” Helen Keller

“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.” Seneca

“A ship is safe in harbour, but that’s not what ships are for.” William Shedd

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” George Bernard Shaw

“A loser isn’t the person who gets involved and finishes last. A loser is the person who doesn’t get involved in the first place” Oscar Pistorius

“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure…than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt

“Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people.” Leo Burnett

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in, forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day, you shall begin it well and serenely…” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my
career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times,
I’ve been trusted to take the game winning
shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and
over again in my life. And that is why I
succeed.” Michael Jordan

“In preparation for battle, I have always found that plans are useless but planning is indispensable” General Eisenhower

“The problem with communication is the illusion that it has occurred” George Bernard Shaw

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there.” Rumi

“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.” Dorothy Parker

“Remember that you have only one soul; that you have only one death to die; that you have only one life. . . . If you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing.” St. Teresa of Avila

“You can do anything, but not everything” David Allen

“You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.” Maya Angelou

“Do not lose hold of your dreams or aspirations. For if you do, you may still exist but you have ceased to live.” Henry David Thoreau

“Can you imagine what I would do if I could do all I can?” Sun Tzu

“I want my children to have all the things I couldn’t afford. Then I want to move in with them.” Phyllis Diller

“Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors” African Proverb

“Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes”. Walt Whitman

“Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.” George Washington

“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.” Neil Armstrong

“When we treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is; when we treat him as if he already were what he potentially could be, we make him what he should be.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“There is little success where there is little laughter.” Andrew Carnegie

“There is no such thing as a standard, run-of-the-mill human being, but we all share the same human spirit.” Stephen Hawking

“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which
has opened for us.” Alexander Graham Bell

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” Henry David Thoreau

“The three things that motivate creative people – autonomy, mastery, purpose!” Dan Pink.

“Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope” Epictetus

“Everyone has setbacks. I’m no different. I happen to have no legs. That’s pretty much the fact” Oscar Pistorius

“Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.” Paul Theroux

”Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of men, instead, seek what they sought.” Matsuo Basho

“None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“You meet people who forget you. You forget people you meet. But sometimes you meet those people you can’t forget. Those are your friends.” Anonymous

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” Albert Einstein

“I see my path, but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I’m going is what inspires me to travel it.” Rosalia de Castro

“One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.” Seneca

“You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” Marcel Proust

“When you feel most alive, find out why,
This is one guest you won’t greet twice.”
Kabir

“Change your opinions, keep to your principles; change your leaves, keep intact your roots.” Victor Hugo

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.” Albert Einstein

“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.” George Eliot

“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” Robert Louis Stevenson

“Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.” Anthony J. D’Angelo

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou

“Live as you would have wished to live when
you are dying” Christian Furchtegott Gellert

“To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.”

“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.” Albert Einstein

“Just think how happy you would be if you lost everything you have right now, and then got it back again.” Frances Rodman

“It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Somewhere we know that without silence words lose their meaning, that without listening speaking no longer heals, that without distance closeness cannot cure” Henri Nouwen

“There is something in October sets the gypsy blood astir, We must rise and follow her; When from every hill of flame, She calls and calls each vagabond by name” William Bliss Carman

“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” Martin Buber

“What is uttered from the heart alone, Will win the hearts of others to your own.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great.” Mark Twain

“Choices are the hinges of destiny.” Pythagoras

“I value the friend who for me finds time on his calendar, but I cherish the friend who for me does not consult his calendar.” Robert Brault

“Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen.” Leonardo Da Vinci

“Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.” Rumi

“Trust your instinct to the end, though you can render no reason.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

“If you are going through hell, keep going.” Winston Churchill

“I’m never gonna stop the rain by complainin’…” Hal David

“Never ignore a gut feeling, but never believe that it’s enough.” – Robert Heller

“Life is short, break the rules. Forgive quickly. Kiss slowly. Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that makes you smile.” Mark Twain

“It wasn’t until quite late in life that I discovered how easy it is to say ‘I don’t know'” W. Somerset Maughan

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” Plato

“The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.” Bertrand Russell

“I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning to sail my ship.” Louisa May Alcott

“Listen; there’s a hell of a good universe next door: let’s go.” E. E. Cummings

“Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement.” Henry Ford

“Let us learn to appreciate there will be times when the trees will be bare, and look forward to the time when we may pick the fruit” Anton Chekhov

“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.” George Bernard Shaw

“One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.” Friedrich Nietzsche

“Don’t be dismayed at goodbyes, a farewell is necessary before you can meet again and meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.” Richard Bach

“The beginning is the most important part of the work” Plato.

“Set your course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship” Omar Bradley

“It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.” Winston Churchill

“I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.” George Bernard Shaw

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” Plato

“You don’t get to choose how you’re going to die, or when. You can only decide how you’re going to live now.” Joan Baez

“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air…” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Winston Churchill

“Mr Speaker, I withdraw my statement that half the cabinet are asses – half the cabinet are not asses” Benjamin Disraeli

“We have all forgotten what we really are. All that we call common sense and rationality and practicality and positivism only means that for certain dead levels of our life we forget that we have forgotten. All that we call spirit and art and ecstasy only means that for one awful instant we remember that we forget.” GK Chesterton

“My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me.” Winston Churchill

“Each man should frame life so that at some future hour fact and his dreaming meet.” Victor Hugo

“So long as the memory of certain beloved friends lives in my heart, I shall say that life is good.” Helen Keller

“The way to love anything is to realise that it may be lost.” Gilbert K. Chesterton

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”
Albert Schweitzer

“Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Could we see when and where we are to meet again, we would be more tender when we bid our friends goodbye.” Ovid

“The first quality that is needed is audacity.” Winston Churchill

“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go” Oscar Wilde

“And now here is my secret, a very simple
secret; it is only with the heart that one can see
rightly, what is essential is invisible to the
eye.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“Trust yourself, then you will know how to live.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”
Ernest Hemingway

“You need not wonder whether you should have an unreliable person as a friend. An unreliable person is nobody’s friend.” Idries Shah

“I mistrust total competence. I’ve always felt life is a series of small disasters we try to get through.” Michael Palin

“I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm’s way.” John Paul Jones

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” George Bernard Shaw

“Dare to be honest and fear no labor.” Robert Burns

“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.” Leonardo da Vinci

“Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else.” Leonardo da Vinci

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I don’t do drugs. I am drugs.” Salvador Dali

“We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” E. M. Forster

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” George Bernard Shaw

“Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and enjoy the journey.” Babs Hoffman

“Live as if you were living for the second time and had acted as wrongly the first time as you are about to act now.” Viktor Frankl

“The best is the enemy of the good” Voltaire

“Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief.” Cicero

“Thought is a kind of opium; it can intoxicate us, while still broad awake; it can make transparent the mountains and everything that exists.” Henri Frederic Amiel

“It is of the small joys and little pleasures that the greatest of our days are built”
Mary Anne Radmacher

“It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done.” Vincent van Gogh

“The antidote for fifty enemies is one friend” Aristotle

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” Henry David Thoreau

“Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen, few in pursuit of the goal.” Friedrich Nietzsche

“Tell everyone what you want to do and someone will want to help you do it.” W. Clement Stone

Do you have any favourite quotations?  I’d love to hear them.  Thanks in advance for sharing!

HUB Westminster is a year old, and has turned into a brilliant place to meet people and to plot.  At the southern end of Haymarket, it operates as a combination between members club, event venue and co-working space.  The residents tend to be of the more social persuasion in terms of their interest in solving social problems with their ventures.  It seems to be full of people on a mission to make a difference.

I must confess that amidst all of the London noise about Tech City and the call of the East End, I have always been drawn back to the West.  Of course, some of my best friends live and work near Old Street (and all that) however consider this:  From Charing Cross (the centre of the cabbie’s universe) you are no more than a short walk from Whitehall, Soho, Mayfair, Covent Garden and the South Bank.  This puts you in close touch with an intoxicating mix of visitors and residents, to say nothing of some of the best city views on the planet.  All power to Silicon Roundabout.  I may remain a grateful visitor for some time yet.

Also celebrating its first birthday is the Big Venture Challenge, created by Unltd, the foundation for social entrepreneurs. Twenty five individuals were supported with an initial £25k, with the potential to unlock further funding and support. This is a platform for ventures which are serious about scaling up.  One of the supported companies is Arrival Education, a definite one to watch, under the leadership of the extraordinary Daniel Snell and Emily Shenton.

I’m probably not supposed to say this, given the theme of the paragraph to follow.  I’ve had an idea for Unltd and foundations like them.  They receive hundreds, perhaps thousands of approaches each year from people wanting to start something. I wonder if this makes sense.  In many cases, the applicants should (or could) be challenged to do nothing of the sort.  Instead, they could be encouraged to join something.  If their driving motivation is to solve a certain problem, then why not seek out those who have done some of the groundwork?  This search may lead to a charity, company or simply an early-stage scheme or group.  In turn, it may identify co-founders.  Perhaps too often people leap to begin, rather than to join.  At least if applicants were given this challenge,  from time to time we’d see a different path to success.

To Telford.  Joining the StartUp Britain  Bus Tour as it makes its way around the UK, stopping at no fewer than forty colleges and universities.  Amongst the budding student entrepreneurs and advisers, expect to hear about StartUp Loans, the new Government-backed scheme inspired by the Prince’s Trust, which loans around £2,500 (plus a mentor) to young people, starting in England.  I’m not sure if two and a half grand strikes you as a little or a lot.  You would certainly need to think extremely hard about taking on such a loan, and have a clear view of how you were going to make the money to repay it.  It reminds me of my first endeavours, as a university student, to produce a musical.  Fairly quickly I realised that whereas I had I thought I needed money, I needed something else;  stuff.  So I made a list of ‘stuff’, from timber to flyers, paint to audio equipment.  And I soon found that people were much more likely to give or lend me stuff, than cash.  It worked a treat and we thanked our supporters in the programme.

The members of HUB Westminster have, between them, a treasure trove of  ‘stuff’.  From talents and skills to connections and audiences – so much that could be sold, borrowed or exchanged.  So I’m going to suggest a ‘skills audit’.  Nothing grand, just an experiment.  A chance for people to list what they have to offer, and whether that is for sale, for sharing and perhaps if they would be prepared to give a short talk or write a list of top tips.  Wouldn’t it be great if, as a result of this experiment, the next time one of the members was tempted to start something, they chose to join forces with another member’s organisation instead.  Stuff, or nonsense?  I’d love to know your thoughts.